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Committee

The Congressional oversight panel has published a set of around 70 photos obtained from the property of late convicted individual convicted of sex crimes Jeffrey Epstein.

This constitutes the third release from a tranche of in excess of 95,000 images the body has obtained from Epstein's holdings. It contains photographs of passages from the literary work Lolita scrawled across a female's body, and censored photos of female international passports.

This action comes just hours before the 19th of December due date for the DOJ to make public all documents connected to its probe into Epstein.

"These latest photographs pose further inquiries about exactly what the Department of Justice has in its holdings," said the Democratic lead of the committee, Robert Garcia.

What's in the Photographs Released

A number of the photos released on Thursday show Epstein speaking with professor and activist Noam Chomsky aboard a personal aircraft; Bill Gates standing next to a woman whose identity is censored; Steve Bannon seated at a workstation across from Epstein, and ex- Alphabet president Sergey Brin at a dinner event.

Investigative Body

These are the most recent wealthy, powerful figures to be photographed in Epstein's estate photographs disclosed by the committee - formerly released images also show US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton, as well as movie director Woody Allen, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, counsel Alan Dershowitz, Andrew Mountbatton-Windsor, and additional individuals.

Being pictured in the images is not proof of any misconduct, and many of the photographed men have asserted they were not participating in Epstein's unlawful actions.

In a statement issued alongside the photo disclosure, Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee noted the Epstein property holders did not provide background information or timeframes for the photographs.

"Photographs were picked to provide the American people with openness into a typical cross-section of the photographs received from the property, and to provide insights into Epstein's network and his extremely troubling activities," the announcement reads.

Oversight Panel

The publication also contains a number of photographs of passages from the Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita written in dark ink across several locations of a woman's body, such as her chest, foot, hipbone, and back. Lolita narrates the story of a minor who was groomed by a adult literature professor.

An example of a passage from the book scrawled across a female's torso says, "Lolita's name: the end of the tongue making a journey of three steps down the mouth to land, at three, on the teeth".

The release also contains a collection of photographs of women's travel documents and identification documents from states around the world, like Lithuania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine.

Committee

The majority of the details on the papers, like names and birth dates, is obscured but the committee stated in a statement that the travel documents belong to "individuals whom Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were involved with".

Another photo depicts Epstein positioned at a table in close proximity flanked by three individuals whose identities have been censored - a first has her palm on Epstein's torso under his garment, and a second is bending to examine a nearby laptop. Epstein can be seen to be assisting the final person attach a piece of jewelry.

Investigative Body

An additional image disclosed is a screenshot of text messages from an unknown person who claims they have been sent "some girls" and are demanding "$one thousand dollars per female".

Photo Disclosure Occurs Prior to DOJ Cut-off

The committee has thousands of images in its possession from the Epstein holdings, which are "simultaneously explicit and ordinary," its announcement on recently explained.

The House Oversight Committee first legally compelled the property of Epstein, who passed away in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on accusations of sex trafficking, in August.

The photographs and records the Epstein estate submitted to the panel are separate from what is often referred to "Epstein-related records". That material are records under the justice department's custody related to its own inquiry into Epstein.

Pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Donald Trump signed into law recently, the DOJ has until 19 December to disclose its files. The extent of the contents contained in the DOJ's records is unknown, and it's probable that a significant portion of the material will be extensively censored, comparable to House Oversight Committee releases